Vitamin D does not prevent cancer

A new study suggests that Vitamin D may not be a strong anti-cancer agent. The findings, which appear in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, are based on an analysis of data for 16,818 subjects who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects were at least 17 years of age when the survey was undertaken between 1988 and 1994 and they were followed through 2000. Vitamin D levels were measured with a standard test when the study began. According to the report, 536 cancer deaths occurred during the study period. However, it was noted that colon cancer was an exception. In the study, people with the highest vitamin D levels were 72 per cent less likely to die from this cancer than were people with the lowest levels.

TV raises blood pressure in obese kids
A US research found that watching too much television may raise the blood pressure in obese kids. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that children who watched more than 4 hours of TV everyday were more likely to have high blood pressure than those who watched less than two hours a day. The researchers studied 546 children and teens aged 4 to 17 seen at weight management clinics from 2003 to 2005. Height and weight were measured to determine a body mass index BMI and blood pressure was recorded. Children with a mean BMI of 35.5 were considered obese. The researchers found that those who watched two to four hours of TV were 2.5 times more likely to have a high blood pressure and 3.3 times more likely to have hypertension than those who watched it for less than 2 hours.

Depression may slow healing of mouth sores
The healing of wounds in the mouth and on other mucous membranes appears to be slow in people who suffer from depression, according to a report in Psychosomatic Medicine. The researchers recruited 193 undergraduate students with high or low scores on standard tests for depression. The participants received a small circular wound on the roof of the mouth, under local anaesthesia. Healing of the mouth wound took typically around 7 days. However, depressed subjects were nearly four times more likely than their non-depressed peers to take longer than seven days to heal the wound. However, feelings of loneliness did not seem to affect wound healing. The researchers said that a depressed mood increases the body8217;s inflammatory activity, which in turn leads to impaired wound healing.
8212; Reuters